**Official** Sri Lanka in England and Ireland 2016

[GIMH]

What's the latest on Cook?

 

[Compton]

What's the latest on Cook?

No real update other than it being diagnosed as bruising rather than a break etc.

I'd imagine that he won't play any further part in the match. He shouldn't need to bat, and there's no sense in sending him out in the field. Let Root captain the side for the rest of the match and make sure Cook is healthy to prepare for Pakistan.

 

[FBU]

Gets first test, can't see why they can offer him the series, looks very ordinary. He is lucky that they will be dropping Compton and may not want another change.

He won't last long against Amir.

 

[Gremlin]

Out of the best top five batsmen you maybe hard-pressed to make a claim against. Bell-drummond may come close on form. Best five bowlers? The four players today and Stokes. Still a spinner short but you weigh up the best options available. Ali has produced some stunning deliveries in his career and Borthers took 4 on his only test!

 

[Gremlin]

By the way. I can't wait to see Amir bowl. I really hope the series doesn't descend into a judgement on one bowler.

 

[grecian]

All this angst about Woakes is pretty unnecessary I reckon, he's proved he's rightly part of the squad, he'll be in for any injuries from about 5 players,he'll play tests. He can't complain about English selectors because on his previous form he could have been ditched forever, yet he's clearly part of team England now.

 

[JRC67]

He is over Compton for certain, and I'm convinced he is over Vince, and Ballance needs runs in the championship before he gets a recoil, it's whether Moeen or Stokes is a better specialist bat over both Robson and Borthwick, which I don't think either is, which is why you judge between Moeen, Stokes and Woakes who is he better all rounder, which is why long term I'd go;

Cook
Hales
Robson
Roots
Borthwich
Stokes
Bairstow
Moeen
Broad
Finn
Anderson

Which is incredibly harsh on Woakes, but he's the first one in if any of Hales, Robson and Borthwick fail by the end of the India series, or any of the bowlers get injured (including Stokes)

Borthwick and Robson may be better and they may not. After a promising start Robson got found out first time around as a test batsman. I've no idea if he went away and changed things like Bairstow or just trying to play the same way. His county form looks good, but playing at Lords you'd expect a decent average. Borthwick hasn't been tried as a batsman at test level so nobody.knows how he will cope under the microscope and opposition coaches and bowlers scrutinising his technique. I've seen more of Borthwick and he's gutsy and does the hard yards, but he isn't elegant or classically correct. More Collingwood than Vaughan.

 

[JRC67]

All this angst about Woakes is pretty unnecessary I reckon, he's proved he's rightly part of the squad, he'll be in for any injuries from about 5 players,he'll play tests. He can't complain about English selectors because on his previous form he could have been ditched forever, yet he's clearly part of team England now.

For me he's out bowled Finn 3 innings on the bounce. At the moment he's proving a better option than Finn at 82 mph. Finn at 90 mph is the third best English steamer. If Finn finds his bowling mojo at Middlesex he plays, if he doesn't stick with Woakes. Pakistan will be a real contest and we will need 7 or 8 players playing well to win the series.

 

[Dan]

1. Cook
2. Hales (ugh)
3. Borthwick (#TPC2.0)
4. Root
5. Bairstow
6. Stokes
7. Wicketkeeper (???)
8. Moeen
9. Broad
10. Anderson
11. Finn

12. Woakes (#Bichel)

 

[Shady Slim]

go for the beard at 7 and get a keeper who bats 8

they won't do it but they should

 

[Compton]

If you took batting out of the equation, who is England's best keeper? I honestly can't think of an outstanding candidate.

Would be as well batting Bairstow at 5 and bringing back Buttler to glove and bat at 8.

 

[Howe_zat]

I'm not a fan of selection that makes rules easier to follow, as oppose to trying to get the best possible cricketers into the team.

Anyway there's still a test on today, and England are winning. I kind of hope England get bowled out with a lead of about 390, which should just about put the kibosh on annoying declaration talk while still giving us a great chance at the 3-0.

Any news on Cook?

 

[Zinzan]

Just watched the highlights. Not sure what was worse, Chandimal's keeping or Jayawardene's commentary. Ghastly stuff.

 

[Stapel]

Bairstow, imho, is a better keeper than many give him credit for. Sure, he's dropped a few. But he's taken far far many more as well. It would be interesting to see what percentage he has. And compare it with others. Right now, the discussion seems to be about YJB (what does that mean anyway Young or Yorkshire?) dropping a catch every Test. That might be true, but he gets such a ridiculous amount of chances, that dropping a few becomes simply unavoidable.

And even if this not enough......, who is beter behind the stumps?

 

[Stapel]

Just watched the highlights. Not sure what was worse, Chandimal's keeping or Jayawardene's commentary. Ghastly stuff.

Hmmm, not sure whta to think of Mahela..... I guess, in 5 years, if someone asks me about his commentary, I could honoustly say I don't recall him doing any commentary at all.

 

[Howe_zat]

And even if this not enough......, who is beter behind the stumps?

The usual idea is just to pick the guy with the lowest batting average, because they know that cricket is an RPG where you don't have enough stat points to put into both keeping and batting.

 

[Stapel]

The usual idea is just to pick the guy with the lowest batting average, because they know that cricket is an RPG where you don't have enough stat points to put into both keeping and batting.

A line of thinking that has actually gained a lot ground with people whom you would suspect to have some common sense.

 

[Compton]

Feels strange hearing them discuss a post-Cook England. I'd sort of assumed he'd open the batting forever.

 

[Howe_zat]

'You're in for a treat! We're going to pick the brain of Shane Warne!'

Total ****ing fawning over anything that comes out of these people's mouths. No wonder their comments turn to ****.

 

[Compton]

'You're in for a treat! We're going to pick the brain of Shane Warne!'

Total ****ing fawning over anything that comes out of these people's mouths. No wonder their comments turn to ****.

At least in this situation he's sort of forced to talk about cricket.